Shoe finishing machine



Aug. 16, 1938. w. H. NUTT 2,126,802

SHOE FINISHING MACHINE 1 Filed oet. 18, 1956 4setting tools.

Patented Aug. 16, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT .OFFICE SHOE FINISHING MACHHNE William H. Nutt, Beverly, Mass., assigner to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey This invention relates to finishing machines in which means are provided for applying a finishing medium such as wax, blacking, or a combina.- tion of the two to the edges of soles of shoes and is illustrated as embodied in a machine of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,080,961, granted December 9, 1913, on an application filed in the name of L. W. G. Flynt.

It is the general practice to apply blacking or other finishing material to shoe edges by hand prior to the operation on these edges by edge This practice involves double handling of the shoes by an operator. The finishing material in liquid form is first applied to the shoe edges which are then placed in a rack to dry, after which the edge setting operation is carried out.

With this practice in view, it is an object of the present invention to provide an attachment for edge setting machines which will apply a nishing medium automatically to sole edges during a finishing operation, thus saving the time and labor required for the application of the finishing medium manually with a brush and also making for neatness. In the embodiment disclosed, the finishing medium applying means is located immediately adjacent to and ahead of the edge finishing tools in order that the finishing medium will be applied to the surface to be nished just prior to its presentation to the edge finishing tool. In the illustrated machine the application of the finishing medium is controlled by a work responsive detent Which, in response to pressure by the work, releases the finishing medium for contact with the work. As a result of this arrangement, the work is operated upon simultaneously by the edge setting tools and the medium applying means. These operations take place at closely adjacent points thus providing an arrangement wherein the steps of applying finishing medium to the work surface and the operation upon this surface by the edge setting device are performed in one continuous uninterrupted operation.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a work controlled device for automatically applying a solidv finishing medium to the work as it is presented to the device. In accordance with this object, the invention, as illustrated herein,

provides a stick holder in which a stick of finishing material such as combined waX and blacking is normally urged outwardly from the holder, but which is retained in the holder by a work-responsive retaining means. When the work is applied to the retaining means, that means is moved to an inoperative position thereby releasing the stick for engagement with the Work.

While this invention is disclosed as embodied in an edge finishing machine, it can be used in other finishing machines or, as to some of its features, by itself and apart from any other mechanism.

The invention will now be more particularly described by reference to the accompanying drawing and pointed out in the claims. l0

In the drawing,

Fig. l is a side elevation of an illustrative edge setting machine having the finishing medium applying device attached thereto;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the mechanism l5 shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 illustrating another embodiment of the invention.

The attachment for applying finishing medium is shown mounted on the head of a machine frame 2, only a portion of the frame being disclosed in the drawing. This frame carries suitable bearings in which is mounted a rock shaft l thatl is caused to oscillate rapidly about its axis by any suitable mechanism. Attached to the forward end of the rock shaft is a depending member 6 which receives oscillating motion from the rock shaft and transmits the motion to a tool carrier 8 which is pivotally connected to it. Mounted on the tool carrier is an indenting wheel Ill and an edge setting tool I2 which are adapted to perform f1nishing operations on the edges of soles of shoes. For details of the tool carrier 8 and the tools carried by this carrier, reference may be had to the disclosure of the Flynt patent referred to above.

A stick i5 of solid finishing material is carried in a holder comprising a flanged support I3 attached to the head of the machine adjacent to the tool carrier. The support I3 has a head I4 pro- 40 vided with a central opening therein which eX- tends to a point adjacent to the knurling wheel and the edge setting tool. While the flanged support I3 is shown as being integral with the head I4, it can obviously be made in several component parts without departing from my invention. The stick I5, which may consist of wax, or a combination of wax and any color which itis desirable to use, is slidably mounted in the central opening of the support I3 and is normally 50 urged outwardly in the direction of the finishing tools by a spring I'B which is maintained in the opening by a screw plug I'I threaded into the end of the head I4. While the machine is not in use the stick of finishing material is held in inoperative position by a detent I9, the lower or stickengaging end of which is positioned in the path of movement of the work piece and which thus serves as a feeler by which the presence of the work piece releases the stick of finishing material. The detent I9 has a shank 29 which is slidably received in an apertured arm 22 projecting from the head. The aperture in this arm is larger than the shank for the purpose of permitting limited transverse movement of the shank when it is reciprocated. Surrounding the shank and normally biasing the detent downwardly into a stickengaging position is a spring 2I which is retained at one end by the arm 22 and at the other by a collar 20 which is attached to the shank. Pivotally attached to the shank of the detent between the arm 22 and the work-engaging portion of the detent are two links 23, 24 which are also pivotally attached to lugs on the head I4. When a shoe is presented to the machine, the edge of the sole of the shoe adjacent the stick holder will engage the lower end of the detent, forcing this member upwardly. This upward movement will result in a pivotal movement of the links 23, 24 forcing the stick-engaging portion of the detent away from the head and out of engagement with the stick and thus allowing the spring I6 to force the stick against the edge of the shoe.

In carrying out this operation, it is customary to feed the shoe to the left 0r in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2. Thus, when the work is presented to the device disclosed herein, the stick of finishing material I5 will be applied to the edge. of the work just prior to its presentation to the edge setting tools I0, I2, permitting the operator both to apply the finishing material to the edge of the work and to perform the indenting and edge setting operations with the indenting wheel and edge setting tool in one continuous, uninterrupted operation.

As will be apparent from an inspection of Figs. 2 and 3, there is a very small gap between the wax stick I5 and the finishing tools I0, I2. This arrangement together with the adjustability of the tools and the stick enables these members to engage closely adjacent portions of the work and facilitates the finishing of the more difficult portions of the edge,- such as sharp corners, and around the toes.

In the construction disclosed in Fig. 3, the head of the support I3 is provided with an opening 30 similar to the one shown in the construc tion illustrated in Fig. 2 and in addition the. head disclosed in Fig. 3 comprises a vlaterally projecting portion 3I having a chamber 32 formed therein with a guideway in the form of an opening extending through the bottom of the chamber. This guideway slidably receives the shank of a work-engaging feeler 33 and guides the movement of this feeler toward and away from the work. The feeler-33 is normally biased in a downwardly direction by a spring 35 which surrounds the shank of the feeler 33 and is located within the chamber, one end of this spring abutting a plug 36 threaded into the mouth of the chamber and the other end en,- gaging a collar 34 secured to the shank of the feeler 33. A stick of coloring material is slidably mounted in the opening in the head and is held in this head by a detent 31. The detent is pivotally connected intermediate its ends to a lug 38 on the head by a link 3'9, and the end of the detent remote from the stick-engaging portion is pivotally connected to the work engaging member 33. In the operation of the construction illustrated in Fig. 3 the sole edge of the shoe upon engagement with the work-engaging member 33 moves that member in an upward direction carrying the stick-engaging portion of the detent out of engagement with the stick, releasing the same, and allowing the spring T6 to force the stick against the edge of the sole.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. In a device for applying a solid finishing medium to a work piece, means normally urging the solid finishing medium into engagement with the work, and a detent for preventing movement of the nishing medium, said detent being arranged to be displaced by the. presence of the work, thereby releasing the finishing medium and enabling the first-named means to force the finishing medium into engagement with the work.

2. A device as defined in claim 1 in which the detent is arranged to reengage the finishing medium upon the disengagement of the work with the detent.

3. A finishing medium applying device comprising means slidably receiving a solid finishing medium, resilient means normally urging the said solid finishing medium outwardly from said receiving means, and a detent engaging said solid finishing medium to prevent its movement relative to the receiving means, said detent being arranged to be moved by the presence of a work piece. to an inoperative position thereby to release the finishing medium for engagement with the work piece under the iniiuence of said resilient means.

4. A finishing medium applying device comprising a support constructed and arranged slidably to receive a solid finishing medium, resilient means normally urging the finishing medium outwardly from sai-d support, and a detent mounted on said support and arranged for movement into and out of engagement with the finishing medium to control the movement thereof relatively to the support, a portion of said detent serving as a feeler and being positioned for engagement by the work whereby, upon engagement of the work with said portion of the detent, the detent is moved out of engagement with the solid finishing medium thereby releasing the medium for engagement with the Work under the influence of the resilient means.

5. In a finishing machine, a nishing tool and work controlled means for applying a solid finishing medium to the work, said means being located immediately adjacent to the finishing tool and in advance of the tool in the direction of the work feed whereby the finishing medium member is applied to the work prior to its presentation to the tool, thus providing an arrangement wherein the steps of applying finishing medium to the work surface and the operation upon this surface by the tool are performed in one continuous, uninterrupted operation by the operator.

6. In a finishing machine, an edge setting tool, means adjacent to said tool for applying a solid finishing medium to a shoe sole edge prior to its presentation to the tool, said means comprising a support constructed and arranged slidably to receive the finishing medium, a spring normally urging the finishing medium outwardly from said support, a detent on said support for preventing the outward movement of the finishing medium, said detent having a work engaging portion actlng as a feeler and positioned to be displaced by the work when the latter is presented to the machine, thereby to release the detent from the finishing medium and causing the latter to engage the Work edge.

'7. In a iinishing machine for nishing shoe sole edges, a support constructed and arranged slidably t0 receive a solid finishing medium, resilient means normally urging the nishing medium outwardly from said support for application to the shoe edge, a detent arranged to engage the finishing medium and hold the same in the support, and a feeler slidably mounted on said support and arranged to control the detent, said feeler being displaceable by the shoe edge when the same is presented to the machine, thereby releasing the finishing medium for engagement with the shoe edge.

8. In a finishing machine for nishing shoe sole edges, a nishing tool, means adjacent to said tool for applying a nishing medium to the sole edges, said means comprising a support constructed and arranged slidably to receive a solid nishing medium, resilient means normally urging said iinishing medium away from said sup port, and a detent for preventing movement of said finishing medium in said support, a portion of said detent extending into the space occupied by the shoe sole when it is in a position to be operated upon by the finishing tool and acting as a feeler whereby, when a shoe is presented to the machine for an edge nishing operation, the detent is displaced thereby releasing the finishing medium for engagement with the shoe edge under the influence of the resilient means.

9. In a nishing machine, an edge setting device consisting of a burnishing tool and a knurling wheel, means adjacent to said edge setting device and in advance of the device in a work feeding direction for applying a stick of finishing medium to the Work edge prior to its presentation to the edge setting device, said means consisting of a support adapted slidably to receive a stick of nishing medium, resilient means mounted on said support urging said stick outwardly therefrom, a detent pivotally mounted on said support and arranged to engage said stick, and a Work engaging feeler connected to and controlling said de tent, said feeler being slidably mounted on said support and positioned to be displaced by the Work thereby to disengage the detent from the stick, releasing the same for engagement With the Work.

WILLIAM H. NUTT, 

